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Everyone wants bigger and stronger glutes, and most people love to train variations of the bench press. Sometimes you don’t have time to train both. Other times you just want a novel way to develop them. That’s where the bridge press comes in.

Bridge Press
I came with this exercise years ago for the combat athletes I was working with. The purpose was to build their punching power while maximally engaging their hip extensors, a group of muscles largely responsible for explosive strikes. Indeed, you need super strong glutes and hamstrings to develop devastating punches and kicks.

The other benefit of this exercise is that it allows you to train two foundational movements patterns with one exercise. Pair the bridge press with an upper-body pull, such as a pull-up or row, and you’ve got an efficient full-body workout that builds functional strength.

I use multiple variations of the bridge press for my clients, but today I want to cover the three primary versions that work especially well for virtually anyone. We’ll start with the bridge press using one band around the thighs, and then I’ll cover two ways to progress the exercise.

Bridge Press (1 band)

Description: A strong resistance band is placed above the knees to engage the glutes that resist internal rotation and adduction of the hips. Hold a dumbbell in each hand for the floor press portion of the exercise.

The next progression is add more resistance to the floor press (i.e., horizontal push).

Bridge Press (2 bands)

Description: Here you’ll wrap a long resistance band across your upper back and then loop each end around the handles of the dumbbells. This serves two purposes. First, the band accommodates resistance by matching your strength curve of the exercise. Band tension is lowest at the bottom (where you’re naturally weakest) and highest near lockout (where you’re naturally strongest). The other benefit of using a band is that it doesn’t require you to get heavier dumbbells into position, which can be risky for the shoulders. The additional load comes from simply adding stronger bands.

The final progression takes a little work to set up, but it’s well worth the effort.

Bridge Press (3 bands)

Description: You’ll add a third band across your pelvis to resist hip extension. Use a strong band and secure each end of the loop around the handles of very heavy dumbbells or any other secure objects.

Programming
I typically have clients perform 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps to build size and strength. I also use it as a corrective exercise for those that need more hip extension strength but have problems performing a standing hip hinge.

As mentioned earlier, if you pair this with an upper-body pull exercise it’s a simple way to design a workout that fits in a full-body training program.

Another benefit of this exercise is that it spares the spine, making it a great option for high frequency training.

These are some of the strategies you’ll learn when you take a Corrective Exercise Specialist course, which is a terrific way to take your skill set to the next level.

There is no doubt that many people have cranky shoulders. This is especially evident when they try to lift their arms fully overhead, or when they’re trying to military press with proper form. When you see a guy or gal excessively arch the lower back when pressing weights overhead, it’s likely that compensation is due to a lack of overhead shoulder mobility.

During my first year of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at USC, I got to fully dissect a cadaver. I’ll never forget the week I spent on the shoulder region. Once you see how many muscles, ligaments, vessels, and structures are jam-packed within the shoulder, it’s amazing we could ever lift our arms overhead without pain. Furthermore, the timing and sequencing of muscle activation the nervous system must coordinate while reaching overhead is pretty astonishing.

Indeed, when you consider the plethora of structures within the shoulder complex, and the motor control that’s required for smooth, full range of motion movement, it’s no surprise why a lack of overhead mobility is a widespread problem in the fitness community.

It’s worth mentioning here that there can be 100 different reasons why you lack overhead mobility. And this is also why there are over 100 different special tests used by physical therapists and orthopedic doctors for assessing the shoulder complex. But there are a few common problems that most people need to correct.

One of my favorite corrective exercises to improve overhead mobility is the elbow wall walk. The benefits of this exercise are numerous, but there are three primary goals when you do it correctly. First, it activates the shoulders’ external rotators, which helps pull the head of the humerus into its ideal position. Second, the exercise activates the serratus anterior, a muscle that’s essential for upward rotation of the scapula. Third, the elbow wall walk teaches your client to reach overhead without extending the lumbar spine.

Test Yourself

The elbow wall walk is a terrific shoulder activation drill to perform before upper body training or Olympic lifts. Nevertheless, if you or your client has problems with overhead mobility it’s important to determine if this exercise provides the benefit you seek. You’ll perform 2 sets of the elbow wall walk, and each set should last 45-60 seconds.

Do you lack the ability to reach your arms fully overhead? Perform an overhead reach and have your buddy take a picture of your end range of motion. Measure the shoulder joint angle using one of the many Smartphone apps. After that, perform the elbow wall walk, and then retest (and remeasure) your shoulder joint angle to determine if it improved.

Shoulder pain when reaching or pressing overhead? Find the overhead position that causes discomfort, and rate it on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being “emergency room” pain. Perform the elbow wall walk, then retest the overhead position and see if the pain intensity has decreased.

Poor shoulder stability when holding weights or a barbell overhead? Perform the elbow wall walk, then retest the exercise to determine if your shoulder stability has improved.

The elbow wall walk requires a TheraBand or some type of light resistance band that can be wrapped around each hand. Be sure to “walk” the elbows up the wall very slowly during this drill, and follow the cues outlined in the video below.

If you lack the necessary external rotation mobility to perform the drill correctly, it’s likely your subscapularis is too stiff. The video below shows some techniques to improve that range of motion.

Do you have nagging joint pains during, or after, training? Check out my Powerful Mobility ebook.

As you program a strength and conditioning plan to prepare an athlete for competition or sport, it’s imperative to know the three types of strength preparation. In this blog, I’ll give a brief overview of each, as well as some sample exercises.

If you’ve been around the strength and conditioning world for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term General Physical Preparation (GPP). This is also known as General Physical Preparedness, while others like to call it General Strength Preparation (GSP).

I mention these semantics up front, because there are numerous terms, used in different parts of the world, to describe the same thing. When it comes to sharing information about strength preparation, that’s part of the confusion. My goal of this brief overview is to make the topic of strength preparation as simple as possible by dividing it into three types. Let’s start with GPP.

What is General Physical Preparation (GPP)?
Imagine you’re working with a teenager that shows promise as a running back. The problem is, he’s pretty skinny and weak overall. He needs to build his full-body power and size, as well as strengthen his tendons and connective tissues using multi-joint exercises such as the deadlift, row and overhead press. Included in this category are basic cardiovascular exercises such as swimming, cycling and skipping rope.

What he doesn’t need to do is sprint with a parachute or practice running different routes while wearing a weighted vest.

The quest to build the basic components of fitness without regard for the specific movements required in a sport is GPP in a nutshell. When GPP is done correctly, such as the programs in my Huge in a Hurry book, it makes a guy or gal a better overall athlete, which carries over to virtually any sport.

So if the kid in question decided to forego his aspirations of being a running back, and switch to another position or sport, his body would be prepared to meet those physical demands.

In Siff and Verkhoshansky’s revered text, Supertraining, GPP is “…intended to provide balanced physical conditioning in endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and other basic factors of fitness…”

When to emphasize the GPP phase: The core components of GPP can be used year-round, whether it’s in- or off-season. However, two key times that often provide the most benefits are:

– When an athlete is far from his or her strength potential and physical fitness

– The early stages of the off-season

For example, you might determine that a hockey player needs to build his deadlift in the off-season to give him more power and explosiveness on the ice during the next season. So you start with that in the early stages of the off-season, and then work toward more specific physical preparation, which we’ll cover now.

What is Specialized Physical Preparation (SPP)?
The Specialized Physical Preparation phase (aka, Specific Physical Preparation or Preparedness) is intended to more closely mimic the movements and energy systems’ demands of a sport, when compared to GPP. A primary goal of SPP is to integrate the fitness qualities gained in the GPP phase so they’re more specific to what the athlete will need during a sport.

There are two basic phases of SPP, which get progressively more specialized to the sport: SPP phase 1 (SPP1) and SPP phase 2 (SPP2). Let’s stick with the example of the hockey player that needs to improve his explosive power.

In the GPP phase you had him build his deadlift, a basic move that doesn’t look much like anything a hockey player does while wearing skates. Now, in SPP1 you’ll have him perform a single-leg squat, which more closely mimics the movement pattern a hockey player must do while on the ice. A single-leg squat isn’t exactly the same, but it’s merging in that direction. This is SPP1.

From an energy systems standpoint, you could have the hockey player perform sprints on a track, or up a hill, with rest periods that are relatively short. An example would be: 10 rounds of 10-second sprints with 60 seconds rest between each. This will start to build the ATP-PC system power needed for ice hockey, progressing from the basic low-intensity cardio in the GPP phase (e.g., swimming, cycling, hiking, etc.).

When to emphasize the SPP1 phase: In the second half of the off-season.

Now we’re on to the last phase, SPP2, which is intended to mimic the movements and energy systems’ demands of the sport as closely as possible. So instead of focusing primarily on the single-leg squat, you’ll have the hockey player perform drills on the ice while wearing a weighted vest. Indeed, the movement patterns and energy systems are trained in sync with the specific demands of the sport.

When to emphasize the SPP1 phase: In the last quarter of the off-season.

GPP, SPP1 and SPP2 Constantly Overlap
I want to iterate that the above is a gross simplification of three seemingly separate phases of strength preparation. I did it that way for clarity. In reality, GPP and SPP “always form an interconnected unit” as stated in Supertraining. In other words, your athlete can train the deadlift, single-leg squat, and skating drills wearing a weighted vest in the same phase. The difference, however, is the time and energy you devote to any of those three.

During the “GPP” phase, a greater emphasis is put on increasing strength for the deadlift. In the “SPP1” phase, you decrease the volume and intensity of the deadlift to build the single-leg squat. And in the “SPP2” phase, the volume of deadlift and single-leg squat work decreases so you can increase the intensity of skating with a weighted vest. In other words, there’s generally not a GPP or SPP1 or SPP2 phase as much as there’s an emphasis on one of the three, as I’ve depicted below.

Also, very specific drills can be performed in the early stages of GPP to rehabilitate an injury or imbalance that occurred during the season. This is one of the best times to perform the corrective exercises in my Powerful Mobility ebook that’s on Amazon.

Speaking of corrective exercise, if you’re a trainer, coach or therapist that wants to enhance your skillset and income stream by becoming a Corrective Exercise Specialist, check out my 10-week course at this link.

Let’s say you run as fast as you can for a minute. The first 10 seconds or so are pretty easy, but then you can’t run as fast anymore. With each passing moment your muscles burn a little more, and your speed slows. What’s happening?

We’ll start with those first 10 seconds that were relatively easy, when your speed was fastest. The first one or two seconds were fueled by the ATP stored within your muscles. Then the next five seconds were primarily fueled by your phosphagen system, which is stored phosphocreatine (PC) within your muscles. So those first seven seconds came from a combination of ATP and PC, and that’s why it’s sometimes called the ATP-PC system, instead of the phosphagen system. Different name, same thing.

Before we move on, it’s worth noting here that even though the phosphagen system is typically described as lasting 10 seconds, in reality it can last up to 30 seconds, depending on the athlete and his/her previous training.

Enter Anaerobic Glycolysis
You know that you can’t run at your top speed, or perform a maximum isometric hold, for more than 10 seconds before things start heading south. That’s because your body’s quickest, “cleanest” energy source, the phosphagen system, has been taken over by your next quickest source for energy: glucose.

How does the body get energy from glucose? Let’s briefly cover a little biochemistry.

The foundation of the glucose molecule is a six-carbon structure. Those six carbons are split into two, three-carbon molecules, which are pyruvate. So anaerobic glycolysis consists of splitting one glucose molecule into two pyruvate molecules.

This splitting forms two adenosine triphosphate (i.e., 2 ATPs), which the body uses to make energy. Importantly, splitting glucose into pyruvate is fueled by NAD+. You might not be familiar with NAD+ but it’s essential for life and present in every cell of your body. After fueling the split, NAD+ turns into NADH. Importantly, glycolysis also releases an acidic proton (H+). The importance of this will make sense shortly, so hang with me.

Anaerobic glycolysis takes place in the sarcoplasm, the muscle’s gel-like substance that includes all of its components, except for the mitochondria.

Enter Lactate
So now you know that splitting glucose (i.e., anaerobic glycolysis) results in the formation of pyruvate and NADH. If you’re wondering what those molecules have to do with lactate, here’s your answer: Pyruvate and NADH are what form lactate. But for this to happen the enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, is required.

Enzyme reactions work like a lock-and-key mechanism. In this case, the “lock” is lactate dehydrogenase, while the “keys” are pyruvate and NADH. Once those keys are inside the lock, NADH donates its proton to pyruvate. This transforms NADH into NAD+ and pyruvate into lactate.

Importantly, pyruvate consumes an acidic proton (H+) from the muscle during this reaction. Therefore, the formation of lactate is alkalizing to the muscle. Indeed, if it weren’t for the formation of lactate, your muscles would become even more acidic, as shown below.

What Happened to Lactic Acid?
Before we move on, you probably noticed that there’s been no talk of lactic acid. That’s because there’s very good research that demonstrates lactic acid isn’t formed in muscle, at all. You can find that research here and here and here. In a nutshell, lactic acid was discovered in the 1770’s by a scientist that was researching sour milk. Since it has a mildly acidic flavor, and can function as a preservative, lactic acid was later added to foods, as well as brewing and flavoring beer.

More About Lactate
Lactate is everyone’s favorite scapegoat. It’s been blamed for everything from the painful “muscle burn” to fatigue to muscle soreness. It’s not directly responsible for any of those things. In fact, lactate can be used to fuel muscle contractions, which keeps your efforts going. It can also be sent to the liver where it’s converted to glucose (i.e., gluconeogenesis), and then sent back to the muscle to continue with anaerobic glycolysis.

So lactate is your friend, but he hangs around with shady characters. The problem with lactate is that it’s always accompanied by protons (H+), even though it consumes one during each lactate dehydrogenase reaction. Proton accumulation is actually due to the breakdown of ATP (i.e., ATP hydrolysis) in muscle. When muscles are contracting intensely they require a lot of energy from the breakdown of ATP. This causes a huge release of protons (H+) within the muscle, but the lactate dehydrogenase reaction can’t consume enough of those protons to offset the acidity (i.e., metabolic acidosis).

That proton accumulation is what causes “muscle burn” and nausea since the pH of the muscle and blood are decreasing (i.e., becoming more acidic). Protons also decrease the speed and force of your muscle contractions. Therefore, lactate is guilty by association.

This is why scientists study the rate that lactate increases during intense exercise. The measurement gives them an idea of how much H+ is being accumulated. Because if lactate is increasing, so are protons.

The point where lactate starts to rise rapidly is the lactate threshold. As this level gets higher, your speed and power drop off substantially. Therefore, the goal of any good strength and conditioning program is to train your athletes to sustain more speed and power before hitting their lactate threshold (you can find the general training parameters in my last blog). The following graph gives you a visual of what I’m talking about.

So now you know a little bit more about lactate, and why H+ accumulation should be avoided to keep your power running strong. Speaking of power, my latest book Powerful Mobility is now available on Amazon for only $9.99.

Want some more scientific info about lactate? Check out this research.

Stay Focused,
CW

Attention trainers: Do you want to take your income and skill set to the next level? Check out my 10-week online Corrective Exercise Specialist certification course I designed for the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). Click the image below for more info…

Want to build muscle and strength fast? Here’s my best system to do it:

(Note: this article has been modified since it was originally posted on 9/20/2017.)

In the 1990s, two landmark research papers were released that drastically shifted how athletes and fitness enthusiasts train for endurance.

In 1994, Prof. Angelo Tremblay’s research demonstrated that endurance exercise performed with alternating bouts of high- and low-intensity resulted in better fat loss than continuous low-intensity exercise did.

Then in 1996, research by Prof. Izumi Tabata tested a protocol that consisted of 20 seconds of maximal activity, followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds. It was a gruesome four minutes for the athletes in the study. This Tabata protocol was compared to traditional lower-intensity endurance exercise performed for 60 minutes straight. At the end of the study, the continuous lower-intensity exercise group only improved their aerobic capacity. However, athletes that did the Tabata protocol increased both their aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

These two studies have been often quoted as “proof” that high intensity interval training (HIIT) is better than longer, slower cardio for improving fat loss and overall endurance.

Now, assuming you’ve tried HIIT using plenty of effort, you know that it quickly acidifies your body. Your muscles burn, and nausea can set in fast. This is not due to lactate, a substance that actually helps muscle contractions. It’s due to the accumulation of acidic protons (H+), which happens when the body starts burning a lot of glucose to make energy from glycolysis. With a higher effort and intensity, more glucose will be used, and subsequently, more H+ will be produced. This is how metabolic acidosis occurs.

There are two potential problems with making your body use more glucose for energy. First, you’ll gas out quicker than if you used fat to produce energy. When you see a boxer lose his energy and coordination in later rounds, he’s primarily using glucose, not fat, for fuel. A lean athlete has enough stored fat to fuel a jog that lasts for many days. Second, and maybe most importantly, we don’t yet know what negative impacts can occur from forcing the body into metabolic acidosis multiple times per week.

Enter Pavel Tsatsouline
Many of you will know Pavel Tsatsouline, chairman of StrongFirst, as one of the world’s top experts in building strength and flexibility. What you probably don’t know is that Pavel has spent the last three years immersed in endurance training research. His ability to read Russian gives him an advantage since some of the best endurance research has come from there.

Pavel and I have had many discussions over these last three years as he was perusing endurance research from around the globe. In those discussions, he effectively made the case for why many of the popular high-intensity endurance protocols aren’t ideal. Therefore, over the last year I’ve shifted my approach to building endurance with athletes. The results have been extremely impressive, which I’ll discuss more in future blogs.

I got to see Pavel publicly present his immense research for the first time this summer in Denver. His sold-out Strong Endurance seminar attracted some of the heaviest hitters in the fields of strength, conditioning, and physical therapy.

Pavel started off the seminar by warning us not to “chase the proton.” The acidosis that accompanies proton accumulation can lead to many problems that negatively affect power, health and performance. He went on to tell us that world-renowned Russian sports scientist, Prof. Yuri Verkhoshansky, figured this out many decades ago, dating back to 1980. In 1988, Verkhoshansky wrote this about his “anti-glycolytic” training:

“[Yet] the goal is not taking the athlete to exhaustion to accustom him to metabolic acidosis, as it is often understood in athletic practice, but just the opposite…to develop alactic power and to couple it with oxidative phosphorylation, to increase the muscles oxidative qualities, this is develop the local muscle endurance.”

What Should You Do?
The approach to building endurance without overemphasizing glycolysis is beyond the scope of this blog. However, there are two things to keep in mind when you work to build endurance.

1. Build your phosphagen system: Your muscles immediate source of energy comes from stored ATP and the ATP-CP system. They will fuel your maximum effort and speed exercises for 6-12 seconds. This means you can either do low-rep sets of strength exercises or high-speed work for 6-12 seconds. Give yourself enough rest to return your heart rate close to what it was at the beginning of the set to offset H+ accumulation.

2. Train endurance at your anaerobic threshold: If you perform endurance work in the anaerobic zone your muscles will need more oxygen than they can get, and this causes H+ and carbon dioxide (CO2) to accumulate. Both of these factors can increase metabolic acidosis. Dr. Philip Maffetone, author of The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing, recommends training at a heart rate that’s around 180-your age. Therefore, a 30-year old athlete would perform his sport and endurance work around 150 beats per minute, allowing him to use fat for fuel and minimize acidosis. Over time he’ll be able to perform faster and faster at that heart rate.

This approach follows what Pavel told us all in his Strong Endurance seminar, “Increase your 100% and learn to use a lower percentage of it.”

Raise your hand if you know someone that has a nagging injury. Chances are, your hand shot up in the air. That person could be you, a client, friend or relative. Maybe you have knee pain when you squat, or a full-blown rotator cuff tear. Your client might have back pain after doing a deadlift, or elbow pain during the bench press.

These days, it seems more people than ever have some type of physical dysfunction that bothers them during or after exercise.

Why? There are probably two primary culprits at work here. First, people spend much of their day with poor posture while on the computer or Smartphone. This leads to mobility deficits and joint stress. Second, extreme fitness classes are en vogue. So when people do workout, they often jump into programs or classes beyond their physical capacity.

Indeed, the demand for personal trainers and healthcare practitioners to be proficient in corrective exercise is higher than ever. If you make the effort to build your toolbox of corrective exercise techniques, you’ll benefit three ways:

1. You’ll make more money – Being able to identify and correct mobility and strength deficits will allow you to work with a broader range of clients. Furthermore, you’ll be able to charge more money for your services since you’ll be able to perform interventions beyond what a typical personal trainer certification teaches.

2. You’ll build your reputation – Once you become the guy or gal that can help people perform better with less discomfort, word travels fast. Since virtually everyone has some type of nagging physical issue, and since there aren’t many trainers proficient in corrective exercise, your reputation will quickly escalate.

3. You’ll build a strong network with healthcare practitioners – Every week I get asked by physical therapists, chiropractors or orthopedic doctors for recommendations for trainers that understand how to identify and correct mobility and strength imbalances. When you get good at corrective exercise you’ll have a steady stream of referrals from healthcare practitioners. And this, of course, takes us back to the first benefit I mentioned: you’ll make more money.

With those three benefits in mind, I’m excited to announce my latest project that was 18 months in the making. It’s the Corrective Exercise Specialist course that I created for the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA).

Check out the following video to hear me discuss an overview of my Corrective Exercise Specialist course:

You can find out more information about my 10-week Corrective Exercise Specialist course by clicking here.

“With his course, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Chad Waterbury joins Gray Cook and a very exclusive club of PT leaders who make fitness professionals better trainers — not turn them into clinicians. Crystal clear communication, the most relevant summaries of anatomy and motor learning to be found anywhere, and a painstakingly curated toolbox of high yield assessments and correctives.” – Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman, StrongFirst.com